Let's Get Rid Of SAT and ACT tests

Yesterday “60 Minutes” showed Alison Stewart’s interview with a teen-aged boy who made thousands taking the SAT and ACT for other high schoolers. The boy spent his Saturday mornings taking the test for people and upping their chance of getting into the college of their choice. It was a sad story because the kid got so carried away with his scam that he never thought about the fact that he was stealing (well, at least borrowing) someone’s identity, forging their signature, and creating a baseline of achievement that they themselves could never maintain.  The young man involved is now in college reportedly. 

Alison had some great questions for the boy about how he found out – his parents got a call saying there was a warrant for the boy’s arrest – that’s got to put a crimp in your weekend, right?  I had a few questions that Alison didn’t get around to - who paid for the attorney – did you make enough to pay for one yourself?  Were you charged as an adult or a child?  Did you lose the right to vote?  The kid didn’t seem to be particularly bummed out about this situation – how will he feel about telling his children that he did this one day?

The kicker for me was that the rep for the Educational Testing Service took no ownership for having such a lax method of verifying the identity of the people who take the tests.  If anyone can take these tests – then there are either two answers – 1- offer the tests at the school as the PSAT is offered to help confirm the identity of the child taking the test or 2 – use thumbprints, cornea scans, or other security measures to confirm the identity of the student.  The test is utterly meaningless if anyone can take the test for anybody.  It’s bad enough when superstar high school athletes are sending people to take their tests (sorry, I had to take that shot) but now we have to accept that every Tom, Dick, and Joshua is emptying out their bank accounts to do the same thing – yuch!  I realize this isn’t anything new, but for goodness sakes – next year they will have temp services sending out people to take tests – pitiful! Anyway, I love Alison Stewart and I loved the interview – check it out on line.